July 2018
Volume 59, Issue 9
Open Access
ARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   July 2018
Associations between meibum quality and sphingolipid quantity and composition
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Vikram Paranjpe
    Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States
    Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center, Miami, Florida, United States
  • Nawajes A Mandal
    Department of Ophthalmology, Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Hamilton Eye Institute, Memphis, Tennessee, United States
  • Jeremy Tan
    Ophthalmic Surgeons and Consultants of Ohio, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States
  • Jason Nguyen
    West Virginia University Eye, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States
  • John Yohan Lee
    Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States
    Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center, Miami, Florida, United States
  • Anat Galor
    Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States
    Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center, Miami, Florida, United States
  • Footnotes
    Commercial Relationships   Vikram Paranjpe, None; Nawajes Mandal, None; Jeremy Tan, None; Jason Nguyen, None; John Lee, None; Anat Galor, None
  • Footnotes
    Support  Supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Clinical Sciences Research EPID-006-15S (Dr. Galor), R01EY026174 (Dr. Galor), R01EY022071 (Dr. Mandal), R21EY025256 (Dr. Mandal), RPB International Collaborators Award (Dr. Mandal), NIH Center Core Grant P30EY014801, P30EY021725 and Research to Prevent Blindness Unrestricted Grant.
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science July 2018, Vol.59, 4892. doi:
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    • Get Citation

      Vikram Paranjpe, Nawajes A Mandal, Jeremy Tan, Jason Nguyen, John Yohan Lee, Anat Galor; Associations between meibum quality and sphingolipid quantity and composition. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2018;59(9):4892.

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      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

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Abstract

Purpose : Sphingolipids are important cellular lipids with roles in cell signaling and are significantly associated with many inflammatory and degenerative diseases. The association of sphingolipid composition in human meibum with clinical markers of dry eye has not been studied. We analyzed sphingolipid quantity and composition in human subjects to determine associations with clinically graded meibum quality.

Methods : Forty-three subjects underwent a tear film assessment which included clinical grading of meibum quality. Meibum was collected via cotton swab and analyzed with liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) for quantitative estimation of various sphingolipid classes and species. Concentration (ρmol) of total sphingolipid (SPL), Ceramide (Cer), Hexosyl-Ceramide (Hex-Cer), Sphingomyelin (SM), Sphingosine (Sph) and Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) was calculated. Composition of SPL was assessed via mole percent of major classes such as Cer, Hex-Cer, and SM. Finally, composition of Cer, Hex-Cer, and SM was assessed via mole percent of 10 individual species. Associations between SPL composition and meibum quality were assessed via Mann-Whitney U and independent samples T-tests, as appropriate.

Results : 22 subjects were characterized as having good quality meibum (score of 0 or 1) and 21 were characterized as having poor quality meibum (score of 2, 3 or 4). Subjects with poor quality were older (60 ± 8 years) than those with good quality (51 ± 16 years) and more likely to be male (90% vs 64%). Race and ethnicity profiles were comparable between the two groups. Overall, we found that subjects with poor quality had a lower median concentration (ρmol) of SPL (148.7 vs 234.8, p>0.05), Cer (7.0 vs 83.2, p=0.02), Hex-Cer (7.0 vs 24.4, p=0.03), Sph (2.2 vs 6.0, p>0.05), and S1P (0.15 vs 1.0, p=0.04), and higher median concentration (ρmol) of SM (125.6 vs 66.9, p>0.05). Analysis of mole percent revealed that subjects with poor quality had less Cer (5.7% vs 31.9%, p<0.0005), less Hex-Cer (5.7% vs 10.0%, p=0.01) and more SM (88.6% vs 53.1%, p=0.001). Differences in mole percent of many individual species were found between the two groups. Notably, 26-carbon (26:0) Cer (1.7% vs 0.4%, p=0.02), Hex-Cer (1.7% vs 0.5%, p=0.003), and SM (2.3% vs 0.6%, p>0.05) increased in subjects with poor quality meibum.

Conclusions : Our results indicate that poor meibum quality is significantly associated with compositional changes in meibum.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.

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